Samurai Woman: The Saint Named Theresa

Born Agnes Bojaxhiu of Albanian descent in 1910, the world simply better knew this amazing woman as "Mother Theresa". After founding the Missionaries of Charity in 1950, Mother Theresa spent the vast bulk of her life amidst the absolute most desolate and forgotten people on the planet in the streets and gutters of Calcutta, India. Even today in India (as i have the privilege of travelling there often) and around the world, Theresa is revered as one of the greatest humanitarians the world has ever known, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1979 for her work among the lost and the dying, including those suffering with HIV/AIDS. Whether in a very technically Roman Catholic sense, or just in the more reverentially generic framework, this woman was a "Saint", a person who drew others to faith and faithfulness because of her own indomitable passion to care for those most in need of it, and to use whatever influence and power she had as it grew on their behalf.

In Feudal Japan, Samurai were knights responsible for the care and maintenance of people under their title and their land. When the people suffered, it was up to the Samurai to champion their causes. When there was the threat of invasion, the Samurai were the ones who rallied to draw their blades and defend those who could not defend themselves. Only the Samurai were permitted to carry, use and learn to use arms, but it was always understood that such was a privilege intended not for the abuse of the people, but in service to them. For Peri, then, we have begun talking about how in whatever she does, she should take whatever her gifts and talents may be and use them not for her own benefit, but for the benefit of others in service to our Lord and Savior. To defend those who cannot defend themselves, to care for those who cannot care for themselves, to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves and to champion those who cannot advocate for themselves is the heart of what it means to be both Servant and Warrior.